Battle of Ngọc Hồi-Đống Đa
Qing Empire Lê dynasty | combatant2 = Tây Sơn dynasty | commander1 = Sun Shiyi Xu Shiheng Shang Weisheng Zhang Chaolong Li Hualong Qingcheng Wu Dajing Cen Yidong Tang Hongye Lê Chiêu Thống Hoàng Phùng Nghĩa | commander2 = Nguyễn Huệ Phan Văn Lân Ngô Văn Sở Nguyễn Tăng Long Đặng Xuân Bảo Nguyễn Văn Lộc Nguyễn Văn Tuyết Đặng Tiến Đông Phan Khải Đức Nguyễn Văn Diễm Nguyễn Văn Hòa | strength1 = 20,000–200,000 Chinese troops 20,000 Lê dynasty supporters | strength2 = 100,000 (50,000 regulars, 20,000 newly recruited militia) | casualties1 = more than half loss | casualties2 = 8,000+ killed }} Battle of Ngọc Hồi-Đống Đa ( ; ), also known as Victory of Kỷ Dậu ( ), was fought between the Tây Sơn dynasty of Vietnam and the Qing dynasty of China in Ngọc Hồi (a place near Thanh Trì) and Đống Đa in northern Vietnam from 1788 to 1789. It is considered one of the greatest victories in Vietnamese military history.Tucker, p. 20: "Quang Trung promised to treat humanely all Chinese who surrendered and many did so.53 The Vietnamese know this series of victories as the Victory of Ngọc Hồi-Đống Đa, the Emperor Quang Trung's Victory over the Manchu, or the Victory of Spring 1789. It is still celebrated as the greatest military achievement in modern Vietnamese ..." Background Since the 17th century, Vietnam was divided into two parts: the southern part was Đàng Trong or Cochinchina, ruled by Nguyễn lords; the northern part was Đàng Ngoài or Tonkin, ruled by Trịnh lords under the puppet Lê emperors. In the late 18th century, a rebellion broke out in southern Vietnam. The rebellion which known as Tây Sơn uprising, was led by Nguyễn Nhạc, Nguyễn Huệ and Nguyễn Lữ, soon swept Nguyễn lord out of power. After the capture of Phú Xuân, Nguyễn Hữu Chỉnh, a betrayer of Trịnh's general, encouraged Nguyễn Huệ to overthrow Trịnh lord. Huệ took his advice, marched north and captured Thăng Long (modern Hanoi) successfully. In 1788, Lê Chiêu Thống was installed the new Lê emperor by Huệ. Huệ then retreated to Phú Xuân. However, Nguyễn Hữu Chỉnh became the new regent just like Trịnh lords before. After learning about actions of Chỉnh, an army under Vũ Văn Nhậm was sent by Huệ to attack Thăng Long. Chỉnh was swiftly defeated then executed. Lê Chiêu Thống fled and hid in the mountain. Nhậm could not find the emperor, so installed Lê Duy Cận as puppet prince regent. Not long after Huệ executed Nhậm, replaced him with two generals: Ngô Văn Sở and Phan Văn Lân. Meanwhile, Lê Chiêu Thống never abandoned his attempt to regain the throne. Lê Quýnh, Empress Dowager Mẫn and the eldest son of Lê Chiêu Thống, fled to Longzhou, Guangxi, to seek aid from Qing China. A large Qing army was sent to Vietnam, to restore Lê Chiêu Thống to the throne. The true aims of the war was disputed. Chinese scholars claimed that Qianlong Emperor just wanted to restore the Lê emperor, and did not want any territory.Guo & Zhang, p. 519-523 However, Vietnamese scholars had a totally different argument, they claimed that Qianlong wanted to make Vietnam a vassal state; China would station troops in Vietnam and installed Lê Chiêu Thống as the puppet king. Chinese invasion Two armies invaded Vietnam in October of the year Mậu Thân (November, 1788): Liangguang army under Sun Shiyi and Xu Shiheng, marched across the South Suppressing Pass (present day Friendship Pass); Yungui army under Wu Dajing, marched across the Horse Pass (Maguan); the two armies aimed to attack Thăng Long directly. According to Draft History of Qing, there was also a navy dispatched from Qinzhou to attack Hải Dương, but it was not mentioned in Vietnamese records. The main force under Sun Shiyi reached Lạng Sơn. In order to threaten Tây Sơn soldiers, Sun announced that there was a very large number of Qing army. Sun also promised that if any one helped Chinese army, he would installed him as regent just like Trịnh lords before. Le supporters rebelled against Tây Sơn army. Chinese defeated Tây Sơn army in Lạng Sơn, Nguyễn Văn Diễm (阮文艷) fled, Phan Khải Đức (潘啓德) surrendered to Chinese. Chinese marched south swiftly, the unprepared Tây Sơn army was threatened, and melted away in all directions. Nguyễn Văn Hòa (阮文和) gathered together the remnants of army, occupied Tam Giang, Yên Phong District to fight against Chinese. Getting the information, Ngô Văn Sở ordered Lê Duy Cận to write a letter to Sun Shiyi. Cận described himself as a popular ruler and tried to persuade Sun to retreat. However, it was rejected by Sun. Realizing Tây Sơn army could not stop Chinese army from marching towards Thăng Long, Ngô Thì Nhậm suggested that Tây Sơn army should retreat to Tam Điệp, then seek aid from Phú Xuân (present day Huế). Sở accepted his idea. Troops in Sơn Nam, Sơn Tây and Kinh Bắc retreated to Thăng Long. Sở gathered together them, then abandoned Thăng Long and retreated to Tam Điệp orderly. Only Phan Văn Lân did not agree with him. Lân then led a troop to attack Chinese army in Nguyệt Đức River (present day Cầu River), but was utterly beaten by Zhang Chaolong, and fled back. Sở concealed the fact. In Tam Điệp, Ngô Văn Sở sent Nguyễn Văn Tuyết to Phú Xuân to ask for aid. On November 29 (December 16, 1788), Chinese army marched across Nhị River (present day Red River). They occupied Thăng Long in the next morning without meeting any resistant. On November 24 (December 21, 1788), Sun Shiyi installed Lê Chiêu Thống as "king of Annam" in Thăng Long. However, Lê Chiêu Thống was seen as a rubber stamp to gain popularity among Lê supporters. Sun regarded himself as the patron of Lê rulers; he looked down upon Lê Chiêu Thống. It was whispered among Vietnamese that Vietnam never had a lowly monarch like this before. It was also reported that Lê Chiêu Thống was a narrow-minded and cruel ruler; he cut off legs of his three uncles, whom had surrendered to Tây Sơn army before; he also cut open the womb of pregnant princesses alive, whom got married with Tây Sơn generals. It made his supporters disappointed. Tây Sơn reinforcements marched north On November 24 (December 21, 1788), Nguyễn Văn Tuyết arrived in Phú Xuân. Nguyễn Huệ declared that Lê Chiêu Thống was a national traitor and not qualified for the throne. In the next day, Huệ proclaimed himslelf the Quang Trung Emperor. After the coronation, he marched north with 60,000 soldiers. He recruited volunteers in Nghệ An Province, now the number of his soldiers reached 100,000. In Thọ Hạc (Thanh Hóa), he made an invigorating speech before his soldiers: Soldiers replied a great shout of approval. They were encouraged, and marched quickly. Meanwhile, Chinese generals were overconfident. After a facile victory, they looked down upon Tây Sơn army. Huệ noticed it. He sent an envoy to sue for peace. Sun ordered Huệ to retreat to Phú Xuân, but Huệ ignored. Huệ arrived in Tam Điệp on December 20 (January 15, 1789). He approved of the idea of Ngô Thì Nhậm's plan. Huệ gathered together the whole forces, and divided them into five branches: main force led by Huệ, marched north to attack Thăng Long directly; a navy led by Nguyễn Văn Tuyết (Commander Tuyết), sailed from Lục Đầu River to attack Lê supporters in Hải Dương; another navy led by Nguyễn Văn Lộc (Commander Lộc), sailed from Lục Đầu River to attack Phượng Nhãn and Lạng Giang; a cavalry (including war elephants) led by Đặng Tiến Đông, marched to attack Cen Yidong in Đống Đa; another cavalry (including war elephants) led by Nguyễn Tăng Long (Commander Long) marched past Sơn Tây to attack Xu Shiheng in Ngọc Hồi (a place near Thanh Trì). Battle Meanwhile, Chinese soldiers were preparing to celebrate the Chinese New Year festival, and planned to march further south to capture Phú Xuân (present day Huế) on January 6 of the next year (January 31, 1789). As Vietnamese New Year (Tết) was generally celebrated on the same day, Chinese generals assumed that Tây Sơn army would not attack in these days. However, subsequent events proved that they were wrong. Tây Sơn army marched across Giao Thủy River (present day Hoàng Long River in Ninh Bình Province) on New Year's Eve (trừ tịch in Vietnamese or chúxī in Chinese). They annihilated all Chinese scouts they had met in half way. Tây Sơn army reached Thăng Long in the night of January 3 of the next year (January 28, 1789). Chinese soldiers suffered a surprise attack when they were celebrating the New Year festival. Hà Hồi Fort was besieged by Nguyễn Huệ; Tây Sơn soldiers shouted, and ordered them to surrender. Chinese were frightened, and melted away. On the dawn of January 5 (January 30, 1789), Huệ besieged Ngọc Hồi Fort. Chinese in the fort opened fire at Tây Sơn army. Tây Sơn soldiers charged at Chinese, with big wet wood blocks protecting themselves. Huệ fought bravely in the front of army, riding on an elephant. The fort was captured by war elephants. Tây Sơn soldiers entered the fort, fought against Chinese by dagger. Tây Sơn army followed up a victory with attack. They captured Văn Điển, Đống Đa, An Quyết and other forts. Chinese soldiers were disastrously defeated, and melt away. They stepped on landmines, which were laid by themselves, causing many casualties. In the same time Sun Shiyi got the information that his army was defeated. He fled with a dozen men, crossed the Nhị River (present day Red River). His official seal was lost, later, it was found by Tây Sơn soldiers and handed to Nguyễn Huệ. Lê Chiêu Thống also fled to China. Qing generals Xu Shiheng, Shang Weisheng, Zhang Chaolong and Cen Yidong were killed in action. Many Chinese soldiers and porters drowned while crossing the river, including general Li Hualong. Đặng Xuân Bảo (Commander Bảo) or Nguyễn Tăng Long (Commander Long) was the first general who entered Thăng Long. Later, Nguyễn Huệ led his main force recaptured the city. His armor was smudged black by gunpowder. The army under Wu Dajing reached Sơn Tây. There, Wu heard that Sun was defeated. Wu decided to retreat to Yunnan. His army was ambushed by a Tày local chief Ma Doãn Dao. However, unlike Sun, most of his soldiers arrived in China safely. Later, he was praised by Qianlong Emperor. Aftermath Seven days later, Sun Shiyi arrived in Guangxi. There, he met Lê Chiêu Thống. According to Khâm định Việt sử Thông giám cương mục, Sun comforted Lê Chiêu Thống, and promised that he would gather another troop to reinstall him. Lê Chiêu Thống and his supporters were accommodated in Guilin. Meanwhile, a secret order of Qianlong Emperor was found by Tây Sơn army, and handed to Nguyễn Huệ. In this order, Qianlong ordered Sun to march slowly, and let Lê officials come back to Vietnam to find Lê Chiêu Thống; if Tây Sơn army retreated, that was the best, let Lê Chiêu Thống take the lead and Chinese army brought up the rear; it not, Qianlong would order Chinese navy to attack Thuận Hóa and Quảng Nam, Huệ would surrendered when Tây Sơn dynasty suffering from a double-pronged attack; then ordered Huệ to recognized the dominion of Lê Chiêu Thống in northern Vietnam, and separated Vietnam into two countries. Nguyễn Huệ realized that restoration of Lê dynasty was only an excuse, the true purpose of Qianlong was to control Vietnam. The defeat of Qing army made Qianlong ashamed; if Huệ did not sue for peace, Qing China would invade Vietnam again. So Huệ attempted to find a peaceful solution with Qing China; he ordered Ngô Thì Nhậm to deal with the peace negotiations. Then, he went back to Phú Xuân. The irate Qianlong Emperor replaced Sun Shiyi with Fuk'anggan, and planned another attack on Vietnam. Fuk'anggan did not want to conflict with Nguyễn Huệ; he sent a letter to Huệ and wrote, the prerequisite for cease-fire was Huệ should apologize to the emperor. Huệ agreed; he changed his name to Nguyễn Quang Bình, and sent Nguyễn Quang Hiển (阮光顯) and Vũ Huy Tấn (武輝瑨) to Beijing. Huệ also agreed to pay tribute annually, and go himself to have an audience with Qianlong Emperor. Qianlong was happy to hear that; he gave the title An Nam quốc vương ("King of Annam") to Huệ. The title indicated that Huệ was recognized as the legal ruler of Vietnam, and Lê Chiêu Thống was no longer supported by China. A so-called "king of Annam" went to Beijing, in there, he was warmly welcomed by Qianlong. However, both Chinese''Draft History of Qing, vol. 527: "其實光平使其弟冒名來；光平未敢親到也，其谲詐如此。" (Actually Quang Bình ordered his brother to come (to China) as political decoy; Quang Bình dare not come personally, he was cunning like this.) and Vietnamese records stated that the "king" was a political decoy. Nguyễn Huệ was resentful for his yield. He trained his soldiers, built many large warships, waiting for an opportunity to take revenge on China. He also provided refuge to anti-Manchuism organization such as Tiandihui and White Lotus. Famous Chinese pirates, such as Chen Tien-pao (陳添保), Mo Kuan-fu (莫觀扶), Liang Wen-keng (梁文庚), Fan Wen-tsai (樊文才), Cheng Chi (鄭七) and Cheng I (鄭一), were granted official positions or noble ranks from Tây Sơn dynasty. The plan had to give up due to Nguyễn Huệ's sudden death. The pro Chinese Nguyễn lords eventually defeated the Tây Sơn dynasty and took complete control of Vietnam when they established the Nguyễn dynasty. Due to a Tay Son massacre against ethnic Chinese, the Nguyen were supported by ethnic Chinese against the Tay Son.Choi, p.35–37 The Tay Son's downfall and defeat at the hands of Nguyễn Phúc Ánh was due to ethnic Chinese support to the Nguyen.Choi, p.74– Cultural influence Battle of Ngọc Hồi-Đống Đa was considered one of the greatest military victories by Vietnamese people. It was also considered one of "Ten Great Campaigns" during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor by the Chinese. The Vietnamese victory was seen as the next following step after the Burmese Konbaung Dynasty's heroic victory over the Qing Chinese in the earlier Sino-Burmese War before. While it is registered as one of Vietnam's greatest military victory, the Vietnamese victory also put a stunning strike, preventing the other attempts of Qing invasion to occupy Southeast Asia. However, due to less significant, it is not known. However, in Vietnam, there are several commemorations of Emperor Quang Trung who helped to defeat the Qing and defended independent Vietnamese state. See also *Đống Đa Mound *Battle of Rạch Gầm-Xoài Mút *Tây Sơn military tactics and organization *Ten Great Campaigns *Draft History of Qing'' *''Đại Nam thực lục'' *Sino-Burmese War (1765–69) Notes ;Footnotes ;Citations References * * * * Category:Conflicts in 1788 Category:Conflicts in 1789 Category:Qianlong Emperor Category:Wars involving the Qing dynasty Category:Wars involving Vietnam Category:Tây Sơn dynasty Category:1788 in China Category:1788 in Vietnam Category:1789 in China Category:1789 in Vietnam